It's only three weeks until Mike Piwowar (a Republican) steps down from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), but it looks like Senate Democrats don't want to let him go quietly.

Michael S. Piwowar SEC Commissioner

On Wednesday seven Senators sent a letter to Carl Hoecker, inspector general of the SEC. In the letter, the Senators call on Hoecker to investigate Piwowar for reportedly chastising Citigroup about new policies related to firearms sellers while talking to Citigroup about regulations on derivatives. The seven Senators are Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut), Dianne Feinstein (California), Kamala Harris (California), Robert Menendez (New Jersey), Christopher Murphy (Connecticut), and Chris Van Hollen (Maryland).

Bloomberg, the Hill, InvestmentNews, and Reuters all picked up on the news. The SEC did not comment to the publications.

"We do have concerns that Commissioner Piwowar may have abused his government position in an attempt to unduly influence Citigroup to reverse a business decision that conflicts with his personal and political views," the Senators write. "The SEC should base regulatory decisions on facts and merits, not on unrelated corporate practices that a particular Commissioner dislikes or that are disliked by organizations they support." 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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